"I...am..BEOWULF!"

"...and my life climaxes at interesting periods."

I saw Beowulf over the weekend, and it occurred to me that it might make a decent post on this blog. Why? Well, because I think it had some interesting storytelling elements that made it worth discussing. Most bloggers will probably talking about Angelina Jolie as a naked demon with high heels (even Roger Ebert), and that's fine, but I'd like to explore the storytelling a little bit (and, yes, it has to do with Angelina, but not so much with her lack of clothing...sorry).

Oh, and there are spoilers here, so don't read if you are concerned with knowing story elements (I'll try to keep the spoilers minimal, though).

Point #1: The Setup

The way the movie starts is great. We're in the King's hall, there's a party going on, and everybody is happy. But it's eerie. We have the feeling something is going to go wrong. The cinematography here is really good, too. And then...well, then everything goes south. It's a great setup, though, and it's filled with suspense.

Point #2: The First and Second Acts

I actually thought the first and second acts were very well done. We meet the characters, we understand the dilemma, and we even get insights into the fatal flaw of our hero, Beowulf (he can't control himself around beautiful women that want him, especially if they're mythical). That's done through good storytelling and a very strong flashback sequence. Very cool.

Point #3: The Turning Point

And all of that takes us to the key turning point of the movie. And here's where the storytelling takes a slight dip in its effectiveness (in my opinion). It's about a two hour movie, and it takes about an hour and a half to get through the first portion of the movie.

So, we've seen this massive climax (battling his first monster, meeting naked Jolie, etc.), we're well past the mid-point of the movie (really closer to where plot point 2 should be), and then...there's only a half an hour to finish everything out.

The finish is very short, involves another massive battle (which is actually done very well and looks really cool), and then...it's over. We don't see a lot of Beowulf from the time of his "mistake" (you'll know what this is if you've read the book or seen the movie) to the time of his "redemption" (if you can call it that).

"...and I have a problem with clothing."

The summary, then? Well, I think it would have made more sense as a three-hour movie. Let's see more of Beowulf after his mistake and understand how it's really effecting his life. We get hints at it, but not enough. The climax for the second battle is just sort of...normal. It's a great battle, very intense, but we don't have enough emotional investment in it to care beyond, "Wow, that's cool."

The movie, overall, is good. Maybe a 6, 6.5 out of 10. The special effects are good. The action is good. There's a lot of skin (both on behalf of Jolie and our hero, who seems to hate any kind of chafing against his sensitive skin). But, it's just an "okay" film.

Switch the storyline up a bit, make it tighter, give us a sense of gravity regarding Beowulf's "mistake," and then you've got quite a story. Oh, and probably keep the main character's clothes on more. Just cause you made really cool CGI muscles doesn't mean we have to see them every second. I'm not a hater, I would just prefer not to snicker every time something is supposed to be serious...

Any other thoughts?

With Science Fiction... The Future Looks Bleak

Don't look ahead.

If science fiction stories have taught us anything, it's not to travel to the future. Time travel can be a good thing, granted we go back in time, but we can't go forward. Bad things happen in the future. We can put money on the fact that the future won't look good. Take these stories, for example:

Terminator 2
When we get a glimpse at the future, it's definitely not going well for us. Robots (as always) have taken over us idiot human beings. Not only that, but as it turns out, our only hope is a baby that will eventually become some great leader.

Lesson: Don't build robots that have the capability of becoming smarter than us. Matrix? iRobot? Seriously, we don't stand a good chance. Robots should be dumb and just vacuum the carpet.

Back to the Future, Part II
In the past, Biff was a thug with a funny haircut. In the future, Biff is a billionaire that ruins your entire life. The future is not a good place to be for a McFly.

Lesson: Don't leave your time machine unattended. Your worst enemy will steal it and use it to ruin your life.

Heroes
In five years the world is still recovering from a catastrophe. Peter Petrelli now has a massive scar and is dating a stripper, and the president is the most evil person on the planet. Not to mention Hiro has gone from a nice guy to a character from the Matrix.

Lesson: If you can draw the future...don't. If you can travel there, grow a soul patch and carry a sword.

Time Travel with Care

So, if you're thinking about visiting the future, please reconsider. Nothing seems to go right. Instead, visit the past. Every time someone goes back in time they introduce something amazing, like a cigarette lighter, and are suddenly nominated for regional king. Generally, kingship requires that you fight off an entire army, but let's face it, you've got a lighter!

If you're considering time travel, I would advise checking out www.timeslingers.com. It's a fun little adventure that Nathan Scheck and I have put together, and the best part is...it's free! And, there's no future travel! We wouldn't want something bad to happen to our characters! (not yet, anyway)

Any other future mishaps come to mind? Let me know!

Science Fiction - It's Crowded in Here

The Market

I write science fiction stories…just like the other billion people on the planet. As science fiction writers (and sci-fi fans, too), we live in a saturated market. Look around. Books and stories pile up around us like Starbucks bistros in Seattle. They’re everywhere. Everyone seems to be interested in science fiction. It’s become such a huge market that we’ve started categorizing it. Here are just a few:

• The Scientists
• Favorite phrase: “The science better be quantifiably accurate in this manuscript or my head will rotate like Jupiter’s second moon!”
• Character profile: The Professor from Gilligan’s Island.
• This audience group likes to ponder, likes things to make complete sense (or at least function in a way that’s probable), and they like to make the rest of us look stupid (which is probably true). These guys and gals start talking and we just keep nodding our heads. Some of them even build the things they read about in their hard core science fiction books.

• The Adventurers
• Favorite phrase: “What did that scientist guy just say?”
• Character profile: Flash Gordon.
• These guys are like the Indiana Jones’ of writers and fans. They moonlight as professors, but they never teach from the textbooks. If you ask them who Asimov is they’ll give you a confused look until you remind them that he was the bad guy from Star Wars.

• The Imitators
• Favorite phrase: “May the force be with you.”
• Character profile: Dr. Spock.
• Dressing up like their favorite characters, they attend massive conventions with other people that dress up like their favorite characters. Unlike the “scientists,” they have no idea how real science relates to their universe, but they can easily rattle off the reason why a light saber never draws blood (except in the Mos Eisley Cantina scene).

• The Cool People
• Favorite phrase: “Mulder’s and Scully would be like, sooo good together.”
• Character profile: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• The first ones to make fun of “The Imitators,” this group leeches onto popular TV shows and movies without realizing they really are science fiction geeks like the rest of us. They call us losers, but deep down, they really wish they too could build a flux capacitor, dress like a Wookie, or at least jump on the latest comic book craze.

Each one of these audience groups writes science fiction, too. The Scientists write things that the rest of us don’t understand. The Adventurers start a lot of things, but never seem to finish. Fan Fiction? You guessed it, The Imitators. And The Cool People? Well, they mostly just stick to text messages.

So, as a writer, I think about all you guys in each of the groups listed here. I try to differentiate, to tweak things and make them unique. It doesn’t always work, but it pays to try. Sometimes you hit 3 out of the 4 groups and everybody is onboard. Sometimes you hit just one.

What group do I fall under? I’m one of The Adventurers who wishes he could talk to The Cool People, but really wants to hang out with The Imitators.

Which group are you a part of?